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Monday 22 February 2016

Fame (Not Like The Movies #1) by Lauren McKellar - ARC Review


Blurb:

She’s supposed to cover the stories.
Not be one.

Madison Winters has life in the bag. Gorgeous fiancé? Check. Promotion to become editor of the country’s hottest fashion magazine? Check. Limited edition pair of Manolo Blahniks? Checkity-check.
Catching her fiancé with his pants down isn’t something she expects. In the space of twenty-four hours, Madison loses it all—not even her shoes will be saved.
Swapping sass + bide for sweatpants and Dior for the downward dog is going to be hell. The last thing Madison’s broken heart needs is a run-in with America’s newest playboy. Can she ever recover from this?

Tate Masters has it all—Hollywood’s latest golden boy has washboard abs, a killer smile, and a leading role in the next A-list movie.
Until a secret from his past is splashed all over the headlines, and that ‘good boy’ image fast-tracks to the gutter.
Now the media hunt is on, and they’re baying for Tate’s blood. One night of wild behaviour sees him wake up next to a gorgeous Aussie brunette—and she’s everything Tate’s afraid of.
Keeping secrets has never been this hard.

Find on Goodreads

Purchase Links:

iBooks: apple.co/1Ucw1iP
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1XHjE0l
Amazon PB: http://amzn.to/1L4N9qN
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1TuNDrL
Amazon AU: bit.ly/1oCTUGM


Kristine's Review:
Reviewed: January 2016.

For me Lauren McKellar's writing has always been evocative, her prose beautiful, her Crazy in Love and Emerald Cove series have broached a line between what I would call older YA and NA, veering on the "safer" when it comes to sex, not necessarily fade to black or suggestive romance like what I've come to expect from YA, but her writing has always focused on the connection between in more than just the physical sense. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Fame, the premise intrigued me, the idea itself felt fresh for McKellar, I was in need of something light, something funny, something sexy, something I could lose myself in, forget about my worries and just slip into reader space and be entertained, Fame was effortless, in every sense of the word.

When Madison Winters walks into work one morning she is prepared for her life to change, she certainly wasn't mistaken, the cushy promotion she expected...gone...her loving fiancé...gone...catching him in a compromising position with another woman will tend to do that... in the blink of an eye everything changes, when she's sent to an exotic island for a yoga retreat she figures this might be the break from her new reality she desperately needs, I mean how much else can actually happen to her right?

"The first rule of one-night stands is that you don't stick around, not unless you're hoping for something more."

Tate Masters is living a dream existence, as Hollywood's golden boy, with his squeaky clean image life is good, until tales from his past come calling, suddenly the golden boy is just like every other Hollywood bad boy, his future success depends on his ability to shush the nay sayers and put out a united front with his girlfriend, and keep his head down without raising anymore questions, shooting on an exotic island seems like the perfect thing for him, and really how much could go wrong there?

Madison is strong, resilient, brave, even in the face of her life crumbling she keeps going, from the high flying lifestyle she was quickly becoming accustomed to a much less exotic life, she knows her only option is to not give up, interspersed with sharp wit, exotic locales so beautifully described that the sights and smells bounce off the page and sinfully sexy moments are heartbreakingly honest and raw scenes where you truly feel what Madison is thinking and feeling, the crushing grief of saying goodbye to the life she had imagined, of realising that what she had always believed was true and real had long since disappeared into the ether. Ironically losing everything might just be exactly what she needed in order to figure out what it truly is she wants from her life, written in a way that Fame had me simultaneously devouring the pages whilst trying desperately to savour the feeling that McKellar conjured.

The author shows her depth here, having cemented her place as a go to writer of heavy emotion, one who's ability to discuss even the hardest of topics with sensitivity transcends the usual YA/NA crossover, her talent not limited to one genre, where my previous favourites by the author left me feeling solemn and introspective, Fame was a breath of fresh air, hilariously funny, incredibly sexy, ultimately swoon worthy, Madison and Tate left me smiling long after I turned the last page.








About Lauren McKellar:





Lauren K. McKellar is the writer of contemporary romance reads that make you feel. With a passion for all things fiction, she is a hybrid-published best-selling Australian author of young and new adult books.
In addition to her fiction work, Lauren edits manuscripts for both publishing houses and a host of successful independent authors, working on both structural and line elements. She loves working collaboratively to achieve a common end goal.
Lauren lives by the beach in Australia with her husband and their two dogs. Most of the time, all three of them are well behaved.

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